In our family we are huge consumers of Youtube videos. Most of our evenings in front of the Tv are accompanied by Youtubers we follow closely: space tubers like Scott Manley, Felix Schlang, Marcus House, Timm Dodd; edutainers like Joe Scott, Tom Scott, Matt Ferrell; physics specialists like Matt O’ Dowd, Nick Lucid, Dianna Cowern. Just to name a few!
What about crafter on YouTube? The first ones we met and loved, a huge inspiration for us, are Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge. But one day I stumbled on a video by Bernadette Banner, dress historian. Then I watched another. Then another. And another. In no time I became a faithful subscriber, and Bernadette became part of our household, first choice companion of my solo sewing lunchs at home.
What I love most are her lucid explanations of historical accuracy and her passionate yet composed campaign against fast fashion and towards a sustainable management and purchase of clothes. Also, I love how she manages objects: if you can’t take care of an item, simply don’t get it. And don’t get ancient items just for the sake of putting them on a shelf: an ancient object can be brought back to life, with the same original purpose or another new, and be part of your everyday modern life. Bernadette, this way, simply changed the way I look at things.
So when I heard about her book I had to get a copy!
The book review
Here’s my review of the book “Make, sew and mend” by Bernadette Banner: a glimpse on the traditional techniques to sustainably mantain and refashion your clothes.
How to get the book
Several online stores have the book available for purchase. Here’s an official list of vendors from Bernadette Banner official website.
First of all, this is not the usual tutorial book you’d expect. It’s much more.
It’s a pleasant reading from start to finish, as well as a good reference to come back to when needed. With clear color photos and simple explanations that are easy to follow for anyone, the book is full of sewing basics and experienced tips.
Here you can learn anything clothes making/mending/refashioning. Being you an experienced tailor or a beginner sewer, you can find something worth reading here.
Between the chapters, you also find a page of featured guests: other costume designers or makers sharing their experience with historical clothing, sustainable care and making of their own clothes, embracing their own personal style. Yes, making your own garments or altering preexisting ones is the best way to customise your style and really show who you are!
The parts I found more insightful?
The chapter about fabric helps you start well from the beginning, choosing the right material for the right job. The insight on the anatomy of the cloth wa super helpful: I knew you had to pay attention to the fabric direction, but here I found practical tips that I will for sure use. About the fibers, there’s a whole section on how to recognise them in a piece of cloth!
The chapter about stitches goes deep into the stitches and techniques that have been used for centuries to produce clothing. In modern times you could think that machine sewing can take you anywhere, but sometimes a well made hand stitch is the best way to achieve your goal. I began with handsewing, I’ve been scared of the sewing machine for a long time, so I was pleased to find that this ancient practice can still be useful.
Moreover, the carefully described tips can give you all the means you need to take care of your wardrobe: not just for making clothes from scratch, but also to mend the ones you have and make them last longer or to alter a garment to give it new life and purpose. It’s not something you can do only if you are a practiced seamstress, Bernadette shows that everybody can do this!
The second part of the book is all about practising the techniques and lessons contained in the first part.
As I said, you can for sure find something you can put to real practice. Need to alter a garment? Covered. Need to make clothing from scratch? Covered. Need to mend and repair a dress? Covered. Are you a beginner? The step-by-step instructions are what you need. Are you a long-date seamstress? Find useful tips from historical practices that you can transport into modern sewing.
A worth to read part is the one about prevention. If you know your clothes, their materials, how they behave, how to take care of them, you can prolonge their life and mend them less often. Eveyone has that particular piece in her wardrobe that she wishes it could last forever. Well, with Bernadette Banner you can learn to take care of it, mend it and also remake it from scratch at the end of its lifespan.
Over 1 million subscribers return to Bernadette Banner’s popular YouTube channel for Victorian and Edwardian garment profiles, reconstructions and history lessons. Make, Sew and Mend is infused with her charming, informative voice to teach readers how to use historically proven sewing techniques to hem skirts, patch holes and sew gussets to add space to garments.Â
As people learn the environmental and economic toll of fast fashion, they are turning toward more sustainable fashion practices like mending. From running and herringbone stitches to basting, pleats and buttonholes, Bernadette breaks down techniques with step-by-step photos to show people with any level of sewing skill how to achieve the most lasting results for every stitch.
Whether readers are looking to build and maintain a vintage wardrobe or merely want to phase out fast fashion in favor of more sustainable practices, Bernadette has the basics covered for every kind of seamster.
What I loved is that the book is the perfect complement to the lovely videos, where she can’t, for obvious reasons, dive deep into the basics. But also the videos are a wonderful addition to the book, its techniques and tips. In my personal opinion, one could not go without the other.
Trust me: if you like sewing, at any level, you can’t miss this lovely book and the insightful videos by Bernadette Banner.
About Bernadette Banner
Bernadette Banner is an American dress historian and Youtuber.
Aftere working in costume design for Brodway, she graduated from New York University with a degree in theatrical production, studying in the Design and Production Studio at the Tisch School of the Arts. After that, she did an internship for Tony Award-winning costume designer Jenny Tiramani at the School of Historical Dress in London, focusing on historical dress study and reconstruction.
She opened her YouTube channel in 2018 as a side project to chronicle personal reconstruction studies. She became very popular and surpassed the million subscribers.
In this video Bernadette finds a cheap, fast fashion knock-off of a Medieval gown she had spent 250 hours and hundreds of dollars hand-sewing.
Her videos tell about her exploration, reconstruction and interpretation of historical dress. She mainly focuses on English and American fashion predating the widespread use of the electric sewing machine, in particular the years between 1890 – 1914. She sews by hand or using period authentic machinery, wit attention about the accuracy of the techniques she applies.
Both her channel and her book “Make, sew and mend” seek to explore how we can learn in our 21st century from historical sewing techniques. She’s great teching sustainable attitudes towards clothing in an effort to fight the effects of fast fashion.
Bernadette Banner currently works as a content creator and research consultant in London.
Bernadette Banner on Youtube
Watch the videos by Bernadette Banner on her official Youtube Channel.
